I was in the House in Patriot
(the home of my grandparents when I was a child).
I wanted to see my grandmother Leacy
(1901-1972),
but she was nowhere to be found. Instead, my crippled uncle George
(1925-1979)
and
my
father
were in the middle living room and neither of them knew where Leacy was. As I
questioned George about Leacy's whereabouts, I realized he was having a hard
time communicating with me and I finally realized that he had amnesia. As my
father and I discussed George's condition, my father maintained that amnesia
could be transferred like a communicable disease from one person to another and
that George had probably infected my grandmother with amnesia. I was adamantly
opposed to this notion and I insisted that my grandmother couldn't have
contracted amnesia from George.

Nevertheless, my grandmother was indeed
missing and I wanted to know where she was, so I decided to go looking for her.
Since I knew she sometimes visited some of her neighbors in Patriot, I thought
she might be at someone's house. I stood up, walked outside, and looked across
the street toward the Swivers' house (which looked different from the way I
remembered it). In fact, a new dark-red brick house had been built next to the
house, on the corner of the street.

I headed toward the new brick house. When I
stepped up on the porch I could see that there were no curtains on the windows.
In fact, some of the windows themselves were missing. It looked as if the house
were still under construction and hadn't been completed yet. I stepped up to one
open window and hollered inside. A woman immediately answered and walked to the
door to meet me.

I told her that I was Leacy's grandson and
that I was looking for her. She was friendly, but she hadn't see Leacy. She
said, however, that Leacy might be in the house behind her house. I thanked her
and walked back off the porch, intending to continue my search. As soon as I
looked out into the front yard, however, I was surprised to see George there,
scooting along on his knees. Obviously he was also intending to look for Leacy.
I walked toward him and by the time I reached him, I was astonished to see him
stand up on wobbly legs. I rushed to his side and helped him stabilize his
stance. Since I didn't want him to go with me, I directed him back toward his
House and he started walking back home. I, however, turned to head on down the
street in search of my grandmother.

I headed toward the house to which the woman
had directed me. It was one-story white cottage. When I walked up on the porch,
I saw that both the screen door and the front door were open. I knocked and when
I heard someone's voice, I walked inside. A man and a woman were sitting in the
living room. I quickly told them who I was and for whom I was searching. I
immediately detected some reluctance from them to tell me where Leacy was and I
wondered if something was amiss. Finally, however, they admitted that Leacy was
there and they led me to an adjoining room.

Leacy was sitting in a low chair which was
almost on the ground. Her head was bent down so I couldn't see her face. I was
afraid that when she looked at me, she wouldn't recognize me. When she looked
up, however, she clearly knew who I was. She opened her arms to hug me. I was
relieved that she knew me. She didn't look like herself however. Her black hair
(tinged with gray) was tied into a bun and her face was completely different
from normal. If anything, she probably looked better than usual. She seemed
tired, however, and hardly like the person I remembered. Nevertheless, she was
definitely my grandmother.